Japan’s Sharp is making dull promises to reform, but it’s hard to see a path to recovery for the struggling electronics maker.

The company on Tuesday reported a 7.2 billion yen ($61 million) net loss in the nine months to December, and now sees a 30 billion yen net loss for the full fiscal year ending in March. That is versus earlier guidance of a 30 billion yen profit.

This is especially disappointing because it was only last fiscal year that Sharp raised fresh equity and posted a narrow net profit. That was after racking up huge losses of nearly $8 billion over the previous two years.

The lowered guidance was leaked in the Japanese press a week ago, so it was already priced into shares. Sharp’s stock actually rallied 5.6% following the results, after the company pledged to undertake “fundamental structural reform” in various business areas.

Sharp says it will reduce fixed costs, focus more on high value-added products, and so on. The company promises to offer a comprehensive plan with its full-year results announcement in May.

Investors have heard it all before. For Japanese electronics makers, the key has usually been to exit underperforming businesses outright.
Panasonic,
for instance, stopped producing smartphones and plasma televisions altogether, choosing to focus on business-to-businesses products like electric-car batteries and in-flight entertainment systems.
Hitachi
similarly exited televisions and smartphones to focus on industrial products.

The problem for Sharp is that just about all its business units are in trouble. It has no equivalent to Panasonic or Hitachi’s industrial businesses, or
Sony
’s entertainment and insurance arms, to prop up profits.

Sharp’s consumer-facing gadgets like smartphones have no meaningful audience outside of Japan. Home appliances like refrigerators and TVs made around Asia for sale in Japan are suffering from the weak yen.

Sharp also makes LCD panels for smartphones and tablets, but faces intense competition from rivals in Korea, Taiwan and China, as well as domestic rival Japan Display. This segment saw operating income decline by 56% from a year earlier in the December quarter.

Granted, Sharp may be too connected to fail. Major Japanese banks have lent the company over 500 billion yen, according to Jefferies.
Mizuho Financial
and
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial
are two of its top three shareholders, and have little incentive to see it go under.

But the shares are still no bargain, trading at 1.8 times book value. That compares with an average multiple of 1.5 times over the last 10 years. Investors tempted by a possible turnaround risk getting caught on the Sharp end of the stick.